Trapped
by TheUltimateChin
Summary: An analysis of Zane's emotions while trapped on Chen's Island, and his struggle to regain his memories.


The room was so dark. It was so empty. So quiet it could make anybody go insane. Enough to make you forget your own name.

The room had an inhabitant. He had been there for several months, slowly losing sense of himself. He had been through so much, only to be locked away in this void of insanity. He yearned to be free. He wished to speak to someone, anyone other than the evil men who visited him every so often, the ones who had locked him in this prison. But, more than anything, he wanted to remember. He knew there was something in his mind, something that refused to escape the confines of his own body, but he could not remember. He was asleep for most hours of the day. Even when he was awake, he was barely hung on to consciousness. But today was different. Today he was more alert. He was determined. He wanted to find himself.

He felt as though he had lived an entire lifetime. He felt as though he had grown up, learned how to live. He had found… a family. No, that couldn't be the case. He could not have grown up. After all, how could a robot grow up? A robot. Yes, that's what he was. He wasn't even a living thing. Just machinery. How could a machine have friends?

The inhabitant tried to stand up, but was pulled back down. His hands were shackled to the wall. Of course they were. They had been for months. He had been trapped for months.

The robot tried to remember, as he always did. He began running words through his mind, trying to trigger some kind of response. It never seemed to work. Orange, Purple, Pink, Green. Something triggered in his mind. Green. Once more, he felt as though this color were familiar. Red. That, too, had a response! Grey. Nothing. Yellow. Nothing. Blue. Once again, he felt as though it were familiar. Black. Very familiar. White. The greatest feeling of them all. This color called to him, as though he was tied to it. No, not him. Someone else who wore white. Someone far greater than he. He was just an imposter of this other man. Of this Hero.

The prisoner thought of one more color. Gold. A rigid fear shot through his metallic body. He did not realize he could feel such emotion. He was just a machine, after all. This color, it scared him. He blinked, as a clear picture formed in his head. The Hero, holding onto an impossible force. He felt the power of one thousand men pressing against him, but he kept fighting. Shooting out a ray of ice.

Ice. Yes, ice. The imposter had ice before. He controlled ice. But his ice was taken from him. Taken by the evil men.

He saw others, standing behind the hero and the impossible force. Green, Red, Black, Blue. There were others. An armored girl. Two old men, both very familiar to him. And a robot. The imposter gasped. He knew her. He recognized her.

The prisoner smiled. She was special to him. He knew that she was special. But, no, she belonged to the Hero. The Hero who lost everything just to save her.

The Imposter was not the Hero. The Hero was brave. The Imposter had failed. The Hero was powerful. The Imposter was powerless. The Hero has friends. The Imposter was alone.

The Hero was gone. The Imposter had built himself from nothing, just to take the place of the Fallen Hero. Just for PIXAL.

But he had failed.

The man with the eyepatch had taken her away.

The Hero could have saved her.

The Imposter was too weak.

And now, here he was. Alone, and afraid. Just an abandoned Nindroid.

Nindroid?

The word meant something to him, but he could not find a definition in his database. It reminded him of the color Blue. Blue was his friend. Blue could always make him laugh. But Blue was always with Black. Black held them together. Black was always there for you. But Black and Blue were not getting along. Because of the Samurai. The Samurai was always kind, and strong. She was tough, she never backed down. And then there were Red and Green. Red protected Green. Red felt as though it was his responsibility. Red was always running into danger, always willing to help his friends. And Green was the most powerful among them. He faced the hardest obstacles, and overcame them with the greatest force.

And then there was White. White was calm, collected and smart. Perhaps he didn't fit in quite as well as the rest, but they loved him anyways. White was gone. The Imposter did not know what would happen to Blue, or to Black, or to Red, or to Green once White was gone. The Imposter should have brought White back. But he wasn't strong enough. He was never strong enough.

The prisoner sighed, and looked at the ground. If only he could remember his name. He was sure that once he knew his name, he would remember everything. He needed to remember. And he drifted once more into his never ending sleep.

The dragon. It had haunted the Imposter's dreams for so long. It taunted him. It was there to tell him that he was not the Hero. He was weak, and afraid. The Hero could have slain the beast. The Hero could have tamed it, even. All the Imposter could do was run. Run, until he awoke once more.

And so the prisoner awoke. He had heard something from above. A voice. A very familiar voice.

"Who are you?", asked the Imposter. He had not heard the sound of his own voice in a very long time.

"I am PIXAL, a friend," responded the voice, "And you're in danger and have to get out of here. Your memory drive is out of sorts. And your elemental power…"

"Elemental Power?"

"Your a Nindroid, Zane, a Ninja. And your friends are here to save you. But they can't do it all. You need to remember who you are."

"Friends?", inquired the Imposter. Zane. That was his name, wasn't it? He was a Ninja. And his friends, they were Ninja too.

"Remember, Zane," said the voice, "You saved your friends and then rebuilt yourself. There are things about you that you don't understand. That you have yet to discover, but if we are ever going to get out of here, you have to remember." The Imposter looked at the spiders upon the wall. And he remembered everything.

"PIXAL!", he exclaimed, "We are, compatible?" The Imposter remembered who he was. Zane remembered his friends. But he still wasn't the White Ninja.


End file.
